Essential Questions in Restoring the Apostles Doctrine
This work is copyrighted © by Joe
and Sonya Machuta
Acts
From the
day of Pentecost until the last chapter of the book of Acts we are told that
this band of Christians turned the world upside down. They were united in purpose and spirit. It was because they continued in the
apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers. God visited, confirmed and established His
word with many powerful signs and wonders.
What was the word of truth that Paul told Timothy to rightly
divide and what is the apostles’ doctrine?
Theology has failed us in answering these questions, and the divisions
multiply as the days go by, with the saints of God being more and more
fragmented. We have set forth, what we
believe to be essential questions, that must be answered with Holy Ghost guided
study, and constant prayer, in order to restore the Apostles’ Doctrine, and
therefore bring the church back to it’s glorious power of Spirituality and
devotion to His Majesty, the Lord Jesus Christ. We will ask, and with the Holy
Spirit’s help answer the following essential questions.
Without further
comment we will begin to look at these essential questions one by one.
I. How did Jesus and
His Apostles (Peter, James, John, and et.al.) interpret scripture? (The Lord’s
Hermeneutical Lens)
Without using the theological terms of exegesis and hermeneutics, we shall look at how Jesus and His Apostles interpreted scripture. We will contrast that model with the way that the Pharisees interpreted it. We will exchange the words explanatory and explicative for the words exegesis and hermeneutics. The reason for this is that there are many Christians that will not seriously look at anything they think is theological, and our message is directed to them, because the wrong explanatory lens, has crippled the modern church, and is driving us to the point of each believer being a separate denomination with a separate creed. Likewise, believers that stay loyal, entrenched in a particular denomination are no better off, for it is the same erroneous lens that provides the passages to proof text their respective creeds. The theologians who read this will readily see that we are speaking of the hermeneutical lens used for exegesis. We will find that the Pharisees used the traditions of the fathers coupled with the wisdom of the world, and that Jesus used the Revelation of His father and was in fact, God’s wisdom incarnate. We will also discover that the current interpretation of scripture used by mainstream evangelical, orthodox and fundamental Christianity is patterned after the Pharisee model and not the model that Jesus and His Apostles used. I use the pronoun we in this work boldly, for I believe that when I write we I am referring to the Holy Ghost and I, and yet I would also like to include in the we my beautiful wife, who loves the Lord with all her heart and is much of my discernment. The Holy Ghost has shared many things with her that have been passed on in our discussions and so sometimes it is difficult for me to know whether the revelation came to me or to her and since she is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh for the purpose of this writing the we shall stand for the Holy Ghost, my wife and I.
Scripture
interpretation was important to every Jew at the time of Jesus. The reason for this was that they had
witnessed so much of Daniel’s prophecy fulfilled over the years between their
return from Babylonian exile, and the day and time of Jesus’ ministry. This meant that they were all looking for the
Messiah (deliverer) to come out of
Act 8:30-35 And
Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and
said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
(31) And he said, How can I, except some man should
guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with
him. (32) The place of the Scripture which he read was
this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before
his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
(33) In his humiliation his
judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. (34) And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I
pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? (35) Then
Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
We see in this passage, from Philip’s
reply, a clear explanation of the way in which Jesus taught his disciples to
view and interpret scripture. They were
taught that all scripture must be interpreted so that one could see the types
and figures and prophecies of Jesus and nothing else. Philip knew that the eunuch did not likely
understand what he was reading. It turns
out that Philip was right. The reason
that Philip could have been sure that the Ethiopian Eunuch did not understand
what he was reading was that Jesus demonstrated that no one could understand the
scripture unless he showed them. Jesus was the revealer of what it really meant
and that it was all about Him. Jesus
told His Emmaus Road companions, the proper interpretation of scripture in Luke
24:27. “And beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning himself.”
We will see that he
continued this method with all of the disciples during the forty-day period
between the resurrection and the ascension.
There was great controversy between Jesus
and the Pharisees over what was written in the scripture. So then, let’s examine what Jesus taught
the Pharisees about scripture interpretation.
In one of these exchanges Jesus told the Pharisees in John 5:39-40 that
their way of interpreting scripture was incorrect. They were searching the scripture
theologically when they should have been searching Christologically.
This is not to say that the Pharisees
were not looking for the imminent appearance of the Messiah, they were. However, they were not looking for the
Messiah to provide eternal life. They
thought that the secret of eternal life was found in the scripture or the
Tanakh (Old Testament).
John 5:39-40
Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (40) And ye will not come to me, that ye
might have life.
Jesus told
them, that the scripture contained the testimony of Him. This is the purpose of the scripture and we
shall see that there is no other purpose for it stated by Jesus himself or any
of His apostles. As we list many of the
passages that proves this, you will see that the use
of scripture by Jesus and His Apostles was exclusively Christological. I have to ask why any disciple of Jesus would
interpret scripture any other way or use it for any other purpose when neither
the Lord nor His Apostles did? So then, how did the Pharisees interpret the
scripture? The answer to this is that
they saw it as the communication from God to his people
Just in case there is confusion for the
reader we will define the terms theological and Christological view of
scripture once for all. A theological
view means to interpret the scripture with a lens that tells us about God apart
from Christ. It would be the same as viewing the scripture as a history of
God’s dealings with man. This allows for
the mixed messages that are at the heart of all the divisions found within the
ranks of Christianity. The
Christological view sees Jesus as the fulfillment of all scripture, the
ultimate revelation of God to man. Jesus
is the fulfillment of the term Immanuel (God with us). The revelation of Jesus to humanity
eliminates the necessity for theological interpretation. We no longer must wonder about who God really
is and what prophecy means because God walked among us in the Incarnation. Therefore, we must merely believe what He
said and did. An example of the
theological approach would be to examine the motives of the eternal God in any
specific story found within the pages of scripture. To be more specific, one cannot conclude
anything but historical fact in the Red Sea Crossing apart from its typical
application found in the writings of Paul, Peter and the author of
Hebrews. Therefore, the crossing only
has meaning as a figure of the salvation provided by the Lord Jesus Christ and
is solely gospel in nature. To use it
for any other purpose is theological and not Christological. In other words, there is but two possible
purposes. One is redemptive and the
other is historical. A theological
purpose is not an option. So then, we
must either look to what the Apostles and Jesus interpreted a text to mean or
we must rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal to us a redemptive purpose. This takes it out of the realm of being a
guide for correct behavior based upon abstract reasoning of what the mind of
God is. We are told clearly that the
believer has the mind of Christ and this is via the Holy Spirit or comforter that
will lead us into all truth.
Current Scripture Error – Theology leads
to Religion/Christology leads to Salvation, Relationship and the
It is our aim,
to set forth a preponderance of evidence so overwhelming in nature that one
must say that first, this is truly the method of interpretation that Jesus and
His Apostles used and secondly, and most importantly, the only viable method
for the believer to use. After we have established the model of interpretation
Jesus used and taught, we will look in depth, at the model that the Pharisees
used and taught and will identify that it was the Pharisees model, not Jesus
model, that the early church fathers adopted and that, the institutional
Christian Church, in the twenty-first century, is still using this model, and
has used it, since the apostasy of the first century. Let’s examine the following scripture from
both explicative lenses.
2Ti 3:14-17
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been
assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; (15)
And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (16)
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: (17) That
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
The above passage is a perfect example for
demonstrating the difference between the Pharisees model of interpretation and
Jesus and His apostle’s model. Keep in
mind that the Pharisees model is theological and that Jesus and His Apostles
used a Christological model. The theological model makes a disastrously
dangerous assumption. It assumes that
one could use a theological approach to understand the motives, will and
purpose of God without God’s revelation of its interpretation and
explanation. Therefore, with the
theological model, used by the Pharisees, one would extrapolate that everything
written in the scripture, no matter what epoch or covenant, could and would be
profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in
righteousness. The truth that shall be
established, by the propensity of scripture written about the sayings of Jesus
and His apostles, and the scripture written by the very Apostles themselves, is
that only after viewing scripture by Jesus’ model, that is a redemptive model,
can one come to proper explanatory conclusions about what is profitable for
doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness.
With this in mind look at the passage of
scripture above (2Ti
Next Paul says this; “And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus.” Timothy was raised in
a God-fearing Jewish home by his mother and grandmother. He was familiar with the scripture from the
theological viewpoint that the scribes and Pharisees taught. He was very aware of the prophecy of the
Messiah and His kingdom that all the Jews were expecting to be fulfilled. Both his mother and grandmother were
believers and had accepted the Apostle’s teaching concerning Jesus the
Christ. Now, Paul tells the prime purpose
of the scripture by saying that they will “make
wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” Notice this; they did not
make the Pharisees wise unto salvation.
Why was that? The answer is that
the Pharisees were using a theological explicative lens and the followers of
Jesus were not. Since the scripture did
not make them wise unto salvation, all of their theological musings,
apprehensions and findings were useless.
The key here is that they could not see the Messiah in the scripture
alone. They had to have faith in the
Messiah when he came. Theologically,
they could never be certain that Jesus was the promised Christ. Now, if theology was useless to the
Pharisees, what could possibly be the justification for so much of Christian
Doctrine to be grounded in theological terms?
The clear answer that shall become increasingly evident in this paper is
that there is no justification what so ever.
Now Paul brings Timothy the following
statement: “All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto
all good works.” Now then, Paul
cannot mean profitable for doctrine theologically since, we have proven that it
was not profitable to the Pharisees. Not
only was it not profitable for the Pharisees but it was not profitable for any
of the unbelieving Jews. It did not stop
the destruction of their temple and it did not stop their dispersion into the four
corners of the world. Further, it did
not reprove them, it did not correct them and it had no impact on instructing
them in righteousness. Paul says in
Romans the following:
Rom 10:1-4 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
They missed the boat in righteousness and
were some of the greatest theologians that ever lived. Therefore, when a Christian Theologian looks at
righteousness theologically and not Christologically
they make a grave error in deed. We must
conclude, that there is no benefit from scripture
apart from Christ and redemption. This
means that any benefit whatsoever derived from scripture must be the result of a Christological view and not a theological one.
What does Christological interpretation
tell us of righteousness? Well, it tells
that the Pharisees did not understand righteousness based upon their
theological view of scripture. Paul
announces the righteousness of God apart from the law.
Rom 3:21-24
But
now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by
the law and the prophets; (22) Even the righteousness of God which is
by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is
no difference: (23) For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God; (24) Being justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Here we find that there is the righteousness
of God (diakasune theou) the genitive case of the Greek noun theos tells us that it is a
righteousness that has it’s origin in God.
A righteousness that I may gain from behavior is in fact a righteousness
that comes from law. If, I do so and so
or such and such, I am thus righteous.
This is the theological understanding of righteousness that the
Pharisees used. Sadly, if we were to interview the average believer today and
asked them about the definition of righteousness, they would overwhelmingly
reply that it is law keeping. This is
sad proof that the theological view of scripture interpretation that the
Pharisees used is the driving factor in the church today. The Christological view is the second-class
stepchild.
The Christological view also tells us that
righteousness is imputed for faith, belief (pistis).
Rom 4:1-5
What
shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath
found? (2) For if Abraham were justified by works, he
hath whereof to glory; but not before God. (3)
For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness. (4) Now to him that worketh
is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. (5) But
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
This understanding of righteousness was
given to Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of Christ and was taught to
him (Paul) by the Lord Jesus Himself.
Church doctrine, using the lens of the Pharisees, the theological lens
has rendered the proper understanding of imputed righteousness null and void
for after attaining for a moment in time the righteousness of God by faith, the
theological reading of scripture has the believer back trying to walk in the
righteousness that comes from the law.
Here are the facts, the Christological
understanding given to Paul about righteousness, must change once and forever
our concept of what righteousness is. To go back to the epistles and theologically
extrapolate what righteousness is based upon specific instructions given to
specific individuals is to abandon the Christological view of righteousness and
return to the theological view used by the Pharisees and quite frankly is a
perfect explanation of what the leaven of the Pharisees really is.
The
Interpretive Lens Jesus Always Used:
Now we will
look at the interpretive lens that Jesus always used. First, Jesus knew and taught that He was the
fulfillment of the promised Messiah.
What this meant in scriptural terms is that He was the fulfillment of All of the prophecy.
Dan
They knew that in days of the four
kingdoms that the
2Pe 1:16-21
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. (17) For he received from God the Father honor and
glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
(18) And this voice which came
from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. (19) We
have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (20) Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the
Scripture is of any private interpretation.
(21) For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost.
Peter puts the witness of Jesus as a more
sure word of prophecy than the scripture.
He goes on to say that no prophecy of scripture is of a private
interpretation. You can see in verse 16
of this passage that there were those of the Pharisees who were saying that the
story of Jesus and the
We can see many passages of the gospels
that demonstrate that the disciples of Jesus did not understand His
interpretive lens for most of the time He was with them. There were times that He quoted the scripture
and gave it the correct interpretation to them but many times they did not
understand what he was saying. Most of
the time, His teaching was unique and was building additional understandings to
what scripture had already said. It was
after His resurrection that He taught them the correct interpretive lens.
After the crucifixion, the disciples were
confused and disappointed. They thought
that the kingdom was coming as a physical kingdom to oust
Luke 24:25-27 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: (26)
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his
glory? (27) And beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
It was on this road to Emmaus that Jesus
began teaching the disciples the correct interpretive lens for scripture. He remained with His disciples for forty-days
according to Acts 1:3 teaching them of the
Cleopas and his wife are recharged by this
encounter. They immediately run back to
the place where the other disciples are gathered and begin to tell them what
had happened and Jesus miraculously appeared in the midst of all. After showing them His nail pierced hands and
eating a broiled piece of fish, He told them the following:
Luke 24:44-47 And
he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms,
concerning me. (45) Then
opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, (46)
And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to
suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: (47)
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
We see here a most important principle.
The disciples needed to have their understanding opened to see the proper
interpretive lens of scripture. The reason is that without this they could not
possibly understand. That was the
problem with the Theological reasoning of the Pharisees. Jesus interpreted scripture in a fresh way
when he addressed the problem during His earthly ministry before the
crucifixion.
Matt 13:13-15 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they
seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. (14) And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of
Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand;
and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: (15)
For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears
are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal
them.
This is exactly the condition of the
Pharisees. They were using the knowledge
of good and evil, the wisdom of the world to theologically interpret the
scriptures. In doing this they missed
the purpose of the scripture which was the announcement of Jesus the Messiah
and His kingdom. What He told them in
John’s gospel bears repeating; John
5:39-40 Search the
Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which
testify of me. (40) And ye will not come to me, that ye might
have life. This purpose has not
changed in two thousand years and so my question again is this; If Jesus solely
used this interpretive lens, the Christ centric lens, what business does His
church have using a theological lens?
How
Acts Shows the Apostles Interpretive Lens:
Now we will move on to the book of
Acts. As we move on, the propensity of
the evidence keeps mounting and mounting.
There are nineteen direct quotes from Old Testament in the book of
Acts. Most of them are found in the
various sermons that the Apostles gave to the Jews. Many of these quotes contain multiple verses
from the Old Testament. They all differ
greatly from the ordinary exposition of the scribes and Pharisees because they,
each one, explain scripture from the view that Jesus was the fulfillment of the
scriptures. There are no quotations of
the Old Testament in the book of Acts wherein an apostle is talking to the
Gentiles. This is interesting in that it
leaves Paul’s letters as the source of interpretive lens that was given to the
Gentiles in the church. We will see that there are two main purposes for
scripture interpretation in the Acts of the Apostles. (1) Is to show Jesus as the fulfillment of
scripture and (2) is to explain certain miraculous occurrences. There are no other uses of scripture found in
the Apostle’s preaching or writing.
Let’s look at the first;
Acts
Peter is telling them that the events of
that day, right then, was the fulfillment of this passage of scripture (Joel
Peter goes on with the sermon;
Acts 2:22-25 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus
of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: (23)
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: (24)
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it
was not possible that he should be holden of it. (25)
For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
He tells them that it is Jesus of Nazareth
that is the fulfillment of Messianic promise.
He goes on to use the Lord’s interpretive lens to explain why they
should believe that Jesus was the Christ based upon what had been written about
him. First he gives the scriptural proof
and then he begins to interpret it the same way that he was taught by the Lord
Himself. In the underlined portion of
the passage he begins to quote Psalm 16:8-11.
Acts 2:25-28
For
David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: (26)
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my
flesh shall rest in hope: (27) Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption. (28) Thou hast made known to me the ways of life;
thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Peter uses this Psalm as proof that Jesus
was the Messiah because of the resurrection.
He follows this quote with an explanation of what the Psalmist meant
when he wrote the Psalm. It is important
to note that the New Testament writings are explicative in nature and act as
exegesis of the Old Testament text.
Acts 2:29-32 Men
and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. (30)
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise
up Christ to sit on his throne; (31)
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul
was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. (32)
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all
are witnesses.
The above passage is Peter’s explanation of
how Jesus was the fulfillment of the portion of the Psalm that he had just
quoted them. Keep in mind Jesus words in
Luke 24:44-45 And he
said unto them, “These are the
words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in
the psalms, concerning me. (45) Then opened he their
understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.” As we look
at the overwhelming evidence of the explanatory lens used by Jesus and His
Apostles, we must ever realize that the Pharisees with all of their theological
mental gymnastics were unable to come to a proper conclusion about God and His
purpose from a theological view of the scripture.
We will examine one phrase from David’s
writing in the 16th Psalm to establish a principal that goes along
with the interpretive lens of Jesus and His Apostles. “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”; This Phrase was
written by King David. He plainly
states that his (David’s) soul will not be left in hell, and then by
implication of proximity and context, he states that God’s Holy One will not
suffer corruption which would mean to the reader that David as God’s Holy (set
apart) King would not suffer corruption.
From a grammatical position, there is no other way to understand this
phrase. The Jews could however, have had a slightly different understanding when they read
the passage because they well understood that David was talking about his
prodigy or a seed that would come from His linage. What they could never understand
theologically from the passage is that the seed would be born of a woman and
God. There were many scriptures that
would imply that the Holy One of Israel would be the Son of God, but we have
seen that Isaiah prophesied that their eyes and ears had been blinded. So then, when Peter explains the text of the
Psalm as fulfilled in Jesus, we have the first time that the text has any
meaning of significance. The meaning is
strictly redemptive. The reason is that
David’s soul would not be left in hell because of the redemptive work of the
Holy One who would be born of a woman from the linage of King David and born of
God without the benefit of the seed of a man and would therefore be Immanuel
(God with us). Therefore the phrase,
thou wilt not leave my soul in hell is an empty collection of words apart from
the redemption found in Jesus. Thus, the
phrase has no theological meaning apart from its redemptive fulfillment. As we look at it, this becomes equally true
of all passages of scripture. This is
precisely why Jesus said to the Pharisees that though they searched the
scriptures diligently, seeking eternal life, it was a worthless practice if
they would not recognize Him the object of all scripture (John 5:39-40). So it is with all scripture. There is no possible productive meaning apart
from redemption. If this is true and it
is completely true, one cannot even make a theological conclusion about what is
written in the New Testament apart from redemption.
We may say “whoa” at that last sentence,
what are we implying? Well, here it is
in a nutshell, the redemptive message and purpose of scripture must have
precedence over any other possible use or meaning, especially a general
theological purpose that concludes the methods, motives purposes of God. It follows then, that the instructions
passed on to specific churches, at a particular time in the history of the
church, do not have the same weight of force, as the redemptive decrees given
by God Almighty through the prophets or given by His Son Jesus and the
Apostles. When we use the epistles to
theologically determine God’s requirements for ethics and morality we miss the
purpose of the scripture. This is not to
say that ethics and morality are not important to consider. Real Christian ethical behavior must be the
result of the proper understanding of God’s purpose in redemption and must be
the work of the Holy Spirit. This is a
topic for later examination but for now, suffice it to say, that the current
day use of scripture, by the
Let’s continue on with presenting the
evidence that the Lord and His Apostles way of looking at scripture is
different than our way of looking at it today and further, that the current
lens is patterned after the interpretive lens of the Scribes and Pharisees.
In the first eleven chapters of Acts there
are nine different sermons where Peter, Philip or Steven followed the Lord’s
interpretive lens. There is no instance,
where it was interpreted by any of the Apostles or other writers of the New
Testament in a theological manner. The
fact is that it was always interpreted in a Christ centric way alone. Of these many sermons, the one that stands
out more profoundly complete than all the others is the one which got Stephen
stoned. As a matter of fact, it shall
come as no surprise to us if we suffer the loss of life at the hands of modern
day Pharisees that are angered by the Apostles original doctrine.
We want to inject here the entire seventh
chapter of the Acts so that you can read without our comment, the complete
sermon that Stephen preached.
Acts 7:1-60 Then said the high priest, Are these things
so? (2)
And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory
appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt
in Haran,
(3) And said unto him, Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall
show thee. (4) Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in
Stephen gave them their entire history
since the calling of Abraham in this sermon.
The reason was, that they believed that they were the children of
Abraham and in the natural sense they were but God had made the nation
We could go on and on with these quotations
and we could show that Peter, Philip and Paul told the Jews this same message,
gave this same interpretive lens time after time after time. We would encourage you to read on and look at
all of these sermons. They can be found
in the following passages of the book of Acts.
·
Acts
2:14-39 (Peter)
·
Acts
3:12-26 (Peter)
·
Acts
4:8-12 (Peter)
·
Acts
4:19-32 (Peter and John)
·
Acts
7:1-56 (Stephen)
·
Acts
8:5-8 (Philip)
·
Acts
8:35-39 (Philip)
The above scripture presents an
overwhelming case that the apostolic interpretive lens given by the Chief
Apostle, Jesus Himself, was solely redemptive and not ever theological. Now we must once again ask the question; if
this is so, what business does the church of today have interpreting the
biblical text with a theological lens?
Let us take a look for example at the term
God. Paul’s meaning was always
Jesus. When Paul used the term God he
meant Jesus. I repeated this so that
there can be no question as to the meaning of the words. If there is a term, by which there is more
confusion than any one thing in the institutional church, it is the name of
God, as it would be correctly understood by the redemptive lens of Jesus. Once
again let me state that this name, is Jesus. Now we could go further and get into
languages and argue over the Greek or the Hebrew name but whether one uses
Jesus (Greek/Latin) or Yeshua (Hebrew) but all of the designations that mean
Jesus of Nazareth, is the name that Paul and the other Apostles believed in and
knew to be God.
And this agrees with the Old Testament;
Isa 9:6-7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God,
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (7) Of
the increase of his government and peace there shall be
no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to
establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The
zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
The terms, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, were
applicable for a specific time in redemptive history and that time was during
the Incarnation. At the specific time
that the Incarnation was here upon the earth God had identified Himself as
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. During this
time there was unity in trinity and trinity in unity but this is an example of
the incorrect lens of scripture being used.
When the church fathers, by this I mean the 2nd generation
after the founding Apostles, rejected the Lord’s interpretive lens, and adopted
instead, the Pharisees interpretive lens, they used a theological approach to
reason Trinitarian doctrine. The
interesting thing to me is that for all the emphasis that the church has placed
on the eternal triune God, it becomes the very source for Christians to be
confused about who Jesus really is. There are many convoluted ideas about who
Jesus is. It is simple. Paul taught that He was Almighty God.
We may have done damage to our argument by
inserting this here for there is not the time to prove it beyond all doubt at
this time but we will do so later. We
must still look at the way in which the revelation given to the Apostle Paul,
his interpretive lens, must alter the way we define the above listed terms.
We will next look at the term
Gen 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but
We see that this is a name given to Jacob
after successfully holding on in a wrestling match with God (the angel of the
Lord a Christophany). So then
We see then that the name was given to
Jacob alone. It was then also understood
as the children of
Mat 3:7-9 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (9) And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Jesus went on to tell them that God was not their father but in fact was His Father. Further, He also explained that they were the seed of the serpent or that their father was the devil.
John
What did Jesus mean when He said that the devil was a liar and murderer from the beginning. Simply this, It was Satan’s lie that Adam and Eve could be as gods with the knowledge of good and evil that brought death into the world. In Jesus words, none are idle words; He has in mind, the Story of redemption, from the fall to His finished work and He knows that the lie of the devil is responsible for theology and death. When the devil told Eve that the fruit would make wise and she/Adam would be like gods, knowing good from evil it was that they would be like gods in knowing. It is but a mere step forward to assume that one could know about God, through the knowledge of good and evil therefore you have the definition of theology in the garden; knowing about and like God. The first thing that Adam and Eve did was to think theologically. They saw that they were naked and in their shame, reasoned that God would want them to sew fig leaves for a covering. In fact, sewing fig leaves was the first religious act and Adam and Eve were the first theologians.
Therefore,
the Pharisees, after thousands of years of theology were incapable of
discerning who
Isa
The
translated meaning of Immanuel is “God is with us.” Immanuel is the seed that was to come from
the loins of Jacob through the linage.
The nation
Isa 9:1-7 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. (2) The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (3) Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. (4) For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. (5) For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. (6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (7) Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
The
great light that will shine forth in
Paul
settles it so that there can be no doubt as to what the identity of
Gal
Here
Paul states that the promise to Abraham was one seed, Jesus. He will then go on to include a broader
definition of
Rom 9:6-8 Not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all
Paul
has once and for all time, defined
We
have seen the voluminous propensity of the evidence, but we must ask the question
so what? Herein lies
the answer. This revelation that was
given to the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles and the new creation,
makes a great difference as to who the promises, found in the Old Testament
Prophets concerning a new covenant, are addressed to. It turns out that the Promises are to the
Israel of God. This is Christ and the
true believers whether Jew or Gentile.
The promises are to the New Creation.
Who then, will no weapon formed against prosper? The answer is the Israel of God. This is true of every promise to
Once
Paul has redefined
Each of these most important terms is given a fresh revelation and therefore the new revelation changes the proper meaning of each of the terms. We will next look at righteousness. The question to consider is what is the apostolic understanding of the term righteousness? We will see that Paul speaks of two kinds of righteousness; one is self-righteousness and the other is God’s righteousness. The first, self-righteousness, is a righteousness that comes from keeping the law and the other is the righteousness that comes from faith and is God’s very righteousness. The righteousness that the believer must have, the righteousness that the justice of God demands, is the righteousness of God which comes by faith. Further, we shall see that whenever the scripture refers to one who is righteous it will be righteousness by faith based upon the understanding that was revealed to Paul.
So then, when any scripture speaks of a person who is or was righteous, it is referring to the righteousness that comes from faith. How can we know this for sure? Well, by the way in which Paul interprets the Old Testament. The book of Romans is very instructive in this most important topic. Paul introduces the subject beginning at Romans 3:21.
Rom
Rom 4:1-5 What shall we
say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? (2)
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory;
but not before God. (3) For what saith the Scripture? Abraham
believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness. (4) Now to him that worketh
is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. (5) But
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Paul’s interpretive lens was one that allowed all to see Jesus and redemption and God’s glorious plan of salvation in all the scripture. He is not making theological arguments but rather he is making Christological arguments. Abraham becomes the prototype for imputed righteousness. When the scripture says that Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness it is talking about imputing righteousness on the basis of faith. Therefore, imputed righteousness is not a theological construct but a Christological one. Also, to say that one believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness, is the same as saying that righteousness is imputed to one for believing God. We will quote the passage that Paul is quoting from Genesis.
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Next Paul adds fuel to the fire, adds more proof to the argument by quoting King David in Psalms 32:1-2.
Rom 4:6-8 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, (7) Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Now we see that the father of the Jews, Abraham, and the first God chosen King of the Jews David, both agree that God imputes righteousness and forgiveness. There are many places that David speaks of the mercy of God but in Psalm 32:1-2 he makes it plain that God will provide a sin bearer for the people.
The above passages are not the only place that Paul talks about imputed righteousness. We find a strong proof in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians.
2Co
Here once again we see evidence of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness for faith in Him. This passage is undoubtedly the clearest expression of imputed righteousness found in all of the scripture.
Imputed righteousness is the least understood concept within Christian Doctrine. The reason for this in my opinion, is a gross misreading of the intention of James in His letter. At first read, it would appear that James is contradicting Paul. In a real sense he is. The problem then, is that James is interpreted theologically and not Christologically. If we interpret what James wrote in terms of Christ’s teaching we will see a thread that can be traced through the bible from Christ to James and see that Christ was merely punctuating what Isaiah had written. The works, that prove one’s faith, are very narrow in scope Christologically (Matt 25:31-46). We will take the time, to examine this passage in James, so as to make some sense of it from a Christological vantage point. The real problem arises from trying to extrapolate theological data from a letter that must of necessity be Christological only. Theology was replaced once and for all with Christology at the cross. We have established this fact in an overwhelming manner. Therefore it is our intention to show that the statement, “faith without works is dead,” is limited to a narrow application from a Christological view, and that, this view, was the intended use when the Holy Spirit caused James to write them.
James 2:1-4 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. (2) For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; (3) And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: (4) Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
This
is the beginning of the passage where James discusses faith, works and imputed
righteousness. The intended readers of
this letter according to James 1:1 are the scattered Hebrews through out the
dispersion, or in other words the Jews through out the
First, we must see the significance of James’ audience. He was writing to Jews that were trying to make sense out of the resurrection of Jesus while waiting for Jesus to come in vindication and destroy the Pharisaic way of doing things and their temple. Jesus message was uniquely a message to the Jews. We will take this up in great depth in a later section but for now and our understanding of James message we must make these few points. Jesus was born a Jew under the Law (Gal 4:4-5). Therefore his message was to Jews under the Law and it must be viewed that way. Paul is the Apostle to the gentiles and he is the one who interprets the meaning of the gospels for the Gentiles.
Mat 15:22-28
And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried
unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my
daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
(23) But he answered her not a
word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying,
Send her away; for she crieth after us.
(24) But he answered and said,
I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Jesus
came solely to the house of
This fact alone eliminates the contradiction of James and Paul.
Jam
We included this much of the passage so that we could demonstrate the context with which James uses his question in verse twenty. He asks, “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” He has been chastising these believers for mistreating the poor. They have been telling the destitute to be warm and full of food and have been pronouncing a blessing upon them but they have not lifted one finger to help them. So then, the works are not law works but specific works, the works that Jesus called for in Matthew 25:31-46 and the works that Isaiah called for in Isaiah 58:5-9. It is interesting that these works seem to be greatly forgotten within the ranks of the evangelical church in this day and time. Be that as it may, they are definitely not law works but rather are works of love, agape love. This is the love that Jesus had for all humanity and is the love that covers a multitude of sins.
Further to the point, the works are works that demonstrate a faithful obedience to the proclamations of God. James uses Abraham as an example of an individual that believed God against all of the outward circumstances. First, Abraham believed God that he would have an heir when he was for all intents and purposes to old to bear a child. James finds Abraham on the mountain toward the end of his days and the end of his faith walk with God. He has his hand, grasping the handle of a knife and in the air, ready to sacrifice the son that the Lord God had promised him. The reason that he was willing to do such a thing was that he completely believed, yea he relied on the truthfulness of God and the promise of His word. It was the promise that his heir would bless the world that had Abraham convinced that even if he was to kill Isaac, the Lord God would raise him up again and keep His promise.
Gen 22:10-14 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. (11) And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. (12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. (13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. (14) And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
In the epistle to the Hebrews the writer plainly states the obedience of the faith of Abraham.
Heb 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, (18) Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: (19) Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
The works that James speaks of for father Abraham are the works of faith. These faith works demonstrate that Abraham believed the promises of God. This faith gradually grew over Abraham’s life. God periodically tested Abraham’s faith and even when he failed the test, God continued to show His faithfulness to Abraham. There are many examples of this in Genesis, but the clearest example is found in genesis chapter twenty.
Gen 20:14-18 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. (15) And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. (16) And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. (17) So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. (18) For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
Even though Abraham had doubted God and lied about Sarah, saying that she was his sister, God caused Abimelech to bless Abraham beyond measure and caused that Abraham would have to be the source of a blessing on Abimelech and his family; All of this happened, while he had been cowardly, not trusting in the deliverance of God. James finds Abraham at the very end of his days when the Lord God had proved His faithfulness to Abraham over and over again. The testing of Abraham’s faith over his lifetime, and the proof of God’s faithfulness, had resulted in the peaceable fruit of righteousness. This final example of Abraham’s belief in the reliability of God demonstrates the kind of work that faith produces.
So it is that faith without works is dead. But, it has no resemblance to the teaching that is currently brought forth from the theological view of James taught by the early church fathers and subsequent theologians. If one looks Christologically at what James wrote, it can be seen that all of the great heroes of faith, are portrayed, so that their lives can be looked at as a process and not an end in itself. All of the time, the saint of Christ Jesus, provided there is a clear and complete understanding of Christology, will demonstrate an ever increasing amount of faith-works that demonstrate that they are believers in the true and living God. Therefore, this idea faith without works is dead, does not become a law or a legal principal, but rather becomes the way in which the saint grows in faith by trusting all that God reveals to him or her. God justifies us by our complete reliance on Jesus and then, the complete reliance on Jesus, molds us into an individual that allows the Spirit of Christ to take over bringing new life to our mortal bodies. The works of faith are always works of love and try as we may we cannot force the works of love by the flesh, for if we do try, they can never be rooted and grounded in love and here we must once again return to the explanation of Paul.
1Co 13:1-3 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. (2) And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. (3) And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
We see that Paul says that works profits nothing to us without love being the motivator. Therefore, we can never apply the concept of faith without works being dead to any one point or stage in a believers life. It is not applicable to a single point in time anytime. Only after the saint has fully lived can one look at the product of the faith works that were manifested by the Spirit of God and if, there is no proper understanding of the Christological nature of the scripture one cannot produce faith works or judge them theologically. If that were possible then the Lord Jesus Christ would have died for no good reason at all.
Since the scripture tells us that Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, it is
necessary to filter all of the gospel messages that are written through the
revelation that Paul received. James was
never cited as an apostle to the Gentiles.
No, he was very definitely an apostle to the Jews. We must look at what
Paul writes to understand the meaning of the gospel for the Gentiles and the
‘new creation’ in Christ Jesus.
Rom
As a matter of fact, we must filter all that scripture says through the revelation that was given to Paul. There is no other way around it for when Paul speaks of the righteousness of God, which has at last been revealed, even the righteousness of God through faith in Christ, all of the scripture, all of the Old Testament Prophets, all of what James wrote, all of what Peter wrote, what Jude wrote, what the writer of Hebrews wrote, all of what Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote and all that is recorded that Jesus said, must be filtered through Paul’s revelation of righteousness.
What
are we saying? Well, one cannot read the
scripture chronologically for interpretation.
While it is necessary to read the scripture chronologically to find all
that is contained therein, it is not profitable to interpret it in that
way. Rather, one must begin with Paul
and work backward with interpretation.
The reason for this is that the revelation that Paul received about what
the scripture meant is the latest revelation and most complete revelation for
doctrine. We are not speaking of the
book called Revelation. We readily admit
that it is written later but it is apocalyptical and not specifically
doctrinal. It is a figurative writing
explaining the prophetic revelation of Jesus Christ over the time of the
church. It has been fulfilled with
respect to natural
We
will move on to yet another term that the Apostle Paul, writing to the new
creation, the Israel of God, altered the meaning of at the very least, and in
many ways redefined.
This is perhaps the most important of the five terms listed above because it is
critical in the sanctification process.
This is also the term that will provide the opportunity for fresh
revelation. That is, revelation meant
for this day and time.
Up until Paul, there was but one type of obedience understood in the scripture. That is the obedience of action. Paul introduces the obedience of faith. He does so in Romans 1:5 and Romans 16:26. The actual phrase that he uses would be the attentive hearing of faith. The Greek word that is translated obedience is ‘hupakoe’ and Strong’s Lexicon gives this meaning; attentive hearkening, compliance or submission by implication. This idea, gets at the motive of obedience and therefore is ultra important to the process of sanctification. Faith obedience, like faith-works must be motivated by love, (agape.) In fact, faith works and faith obedience are one in the same thing. Therefore, faith obedience is the process of acting on the words of/voice of God.
We will state from the beginning, that one must adopt the interpretive lens of the Lord and His apostles to make any sense out of this discussion. We assume that we have introduced sufficient proof already so as to convince one of the fact that all scripture must be viewed Christologically and not theologically. If one continues in the theological approach to interpreting scripture this discussion concerning the obedience of faith will be little more than meaningless. However, if the Christological interpretive view is applied then the obedience of faith becomes foundational in understanding the gospel and completely necessary to the sanctification process. Theologically speaking obedience is action only. Christologically speaking obedience is a sure, solid, unwavering belief that results inadvertently in action. Theologically speaking, this obedience would be to act on anything that was said by God no matter what the purpose and who the audience. Christologically, obedience is acting on belief to a word from God spoken directly to you. Christologically, obedience is listening to the voice of our Shepard, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must take a moment to examine the way in which he speaks. The first answer that most people would give as to the mode of communication that God uses to speak to us, his believers, is the scriptures or the bible. This is not the method that is prescribed in the bible when you look at it Christologically. Isn’t that interesting?
We must keep in mind that the Pharisees were theological in their approach to the scripture interpretation and that Jesus taught His apostles to use a Christ centered approach. We can then, learn a great deal from the exchanges between Jesus and the Pharisees and Jesus and the Jews in general. This is especially true when it comes to listening to the voice of God.
John 10:1-5 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. (2) But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. (3) To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. (4) And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. (5) And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
This conflict with the Pharisees began in chapter nine. Jesus and his disciples ran across a blind man who had been blind from birth. Jesus broke the Pharisee code, on purpose I believe, and spat on the ground and made clay. The Pharisees had many laws that helped one know if they were truly keeping the Sabbath or if they were in fact breaking the Sabbath. One such law was this. It is alright to spit on a rock on the Sabbath for that is not working but, to spit on the clay was work for it would make mud. In the passage above, Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they are thieves. They have climbed into the sheepfold by a way other than him and so they have no business tending the sheep at all. He tells them that the sheep hear the voice of the true shepherd and will not follow a stranger. Remember, the Pharisees had the scripture, taught the scripture, were self proclaimed experts concerning the scripture but, they did not hear the voice of God for if they had, they would have believed in Him. So then, it is imperative that one listen to the voice of God, above the scripture.
How did the sheep hear his voice? Well, it is simple, they knew in their spirits that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God and they listened to Him rather that the interpretation of scripture which the Pharisees were teaching. Further to the point, they would not follow the strange voice of the Pharisees who came as thieves to kill, steal and destroy. The true Shepherd came to give life and abundant life at that. The voice of God speaks life to the sheep. One may say, that’s fine but this passage is speaking of then and we are in the here and now and we have the scripture so it must be now elevated above the voice of the Shepherd. To that we say, read on in John chapter ten.
Joh
The
one fold of sheep is the ‘new creation’ Jew and Gentile alike
made into one new man, made in the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. The new creation,
is the spiritual
Heb 10:19-20 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
We can enter the Holy of Holies when we have a cleansed conscience. Therefore, if we listen to the voice of Christ, we will realize that the blood of Jesus has cleansed our conscience and we will then be able to inter into relationship with Him, not as a subject but as a brother and heir.
Jesus Obedience Was His
Perfect Faith - First Natural Then Spiritual:
Heb 5:8-9 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; (9) And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
So then, Jesus had to learn
obedience. What was His obedience? We shall see that it was nothing short of and
nothing more than the obedience of faith.
1 Corinthians 15:46, KJV 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. It is imperative to remember that Jesus was born a Jew, born under the law. He was the unique Son of God but his humanity was Jewish during a time when the Jews were under the Law of Moses. This makes for great mis-understanding because Orthodox Dogma has overlooked this fact completely. Everything that Jesus said, no matter which gospel records it must be viewed in this light. The crucifixion is the great divider of covenants and so all that was said prior to the cross was Old Covenant or Testament. True, some of what was said looked forward to the New Covenant, and some was promises that can be counted on by both Jew and Gentile, but it all was a reaction to the Judaism of the time. Obedience during the time of Jesus earthly ministry was still thought of as a fleshly obedience. Jesus obedience was spiritual because it was the obedience of faith. Very little is said about his day to day life. The reason for this is that His perfect obedience to the Father was the obedience of faith. There are clues given to this in the sovereign redemptive decrees of God, given through-out the New and Old Testaments. One such clue is Hebrews 11:6, KJV 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Since the Father declared that He was well pleased with the Son it must be that it was His faith that pleased the Father. In order to substantiate this fact it is necessary to look at three passages of scripture. One is found in Johns gospel and the other two are found in Hebrews chapter eleven. I will show both passages in their entireity and will give commentary as to how they relate to Jesus and His perfect faith.
First, let me repeat Heb 11:6; But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Well, we can be sure that it is impossible
for anyone other than Jesus to please him without faith, but is there a way in
which we can see that this means Jesus also?
In other words, was Jesus obedience perfect adherence to the law, or was
it perfect faith? The answer beyond
doubt was perfect faith. To find this
answer, we will look at John 8:20-59.
There are many other passages that make the same point but we will start
with this one. The key verse, that
proves this, is: "I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught
me, I speak these things. (29) And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath
not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him."
The key here is the Lords
humanity. It is widely accepted that he
was fully God and fully man. The humanity, separated
him from the physical presence of God.
The Spirit which had descended like a dove and alighted on Him, was His entire connection to the Father. This was a faith connection,
His humanity had to accept His deity by faith. Nothing short of perfect faith, would
accomplish such a task. This was why He
could be so certain of His connection to the Father at many and varied times of
trial or testing. An example of this
testing, was the time when his mother and brothers were outside seeking him to
take him home for fear that he was insane. He said that his real mother and
brothers were those who believed in Him or did the will of the Father.(Mark
John 8:20-26 These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he
taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet
come. (21) Then said Jesus again unto
them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. (22) Then said the Jews, Will he kill
himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot
come. (23) And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of
this world; I am not of this world.
(24) I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for
if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (25) Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same
that I said unto you from the beginning.
(26) I have many things to
say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the
world those things which I have heard of him. The important
things to remember in this exchange is that Jesus is declaring to these
unbelieving Scribes and Pharisees that what He speaks is that which He has
heard from the Father. There is a bold declarative tone to His words. These are words of perfect faith. He does not doubt for a minute that He hears
the voice of the Father and is the choice Son of the Father. There is always a boldness in the words of Jesus. And in the circumstances of His humanity,
this demonstrates perfect faith.
Otherwise, He would only be God and not man. But, he was both. Completely God by faith,
and completely human naturally by the flesh. He tells the Pharisees
"for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your
sins." We see from this that
faith is obedience and not believing is disobedience. If they believe that He was from the Father,
then they will not die in their sins.
Believing what the Father declared was obedience for them. Therefore, one can conclude that believing
what the Father had told him was his obedience also. In fact, since the Jews that he came to did
not believe, and this was their disobedience, his substitutionary obedience,
was his belief of the Father's promise to Abraham; that He and He alone was the
promised seed. His faith was His
righteousness and this is the very righteousness that is imputed to the
believer for faith in Him. It is similar faith to that of believing
Abraham. The first Adam caused the sin
by unbelief and last Adam reversed the cursed by his perfect faith which was
complete belief in what the Father said.
In this passage is present the Redemptive-Historical Hermeneutic plan
revealed. Adam made redemption possible
because in him mankind could recognize its need. Abraham became the example of faith and
imputed righteousness. Moses who showed
that mankind could not achieve right standing before God based upon works, and
Christ who reconciled
John 8:27-29 (27) They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. (28) Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. (29) And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. Here again, we see Jesus the man, having perfect faith in Jesus the God and the Father. In fact, Jesus was Jehovah incarnate, and as He referred to the Father, it was to that part of Him to which He was connected spiritually. Look at Isaiah 9:6, KJV “6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Naturally, there was a part of Him that stayed supreme ruler of the universe even during the time of the incarnation. This is why He would say my Father is greater than I. But, one must realize that the Apsotle Paul would declare; Colossians 2:9, KJV “9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” What does this mean? Well, that the trinity or triune God, Father Son(Word) and Holy Ghost, now dwell in the glorified incarnation.
John 8:30-32 (30) As he spake these words, many believed on him. (31) Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; (32) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. We see in this passage more forcefull ascertion that He is God incarnate. If they continue in His word, they shall know the truth and thus be set free.
John
John 8:34-38 (34) Jesus
answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin. (35)
And the servant abideth not in the house
forever: but the Son abideth ever. (36)
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (37) I
know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath
no place in you. (38) I speak that which I have seen with my
Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. Jesus turns the conversation to sin and in so
doing shows the proper interpretation for the word from the context. One must
look at the meaning of the word in the original language to uncover the proper
meaning of this passage. The word here
used is the Greek word hamartia (Strong's
266). It means to miss the mark and it
is an archery term. So, He said,
"whoever misses the mark, is the servant of mark missing." How did these people miss the mark? Well, look at the above passage. They had Just told Him that they were Abrahams seed. The way in which they missed the mark, was by having pride
in what they considered their natural heritage.
They thought that they were Abrahams seed. Paul
tells us something different. Galatians
John 8:39-40 (39) They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. (40) But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Here is the most important proof that faith is obedience. Jesus is Abraham’s promised seed and the promised seed will do the works of Abraham. These Scribes and Pharisees are not doing the works of Abraham. What are the works of Abraham? Genesis 15:6, KJV ì6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.î We will see this even clearer in the upcoming Hebrews passage. Yes, Abraham pleased the Lord by his faith.
John
John 8:42-45 (42) Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (43) Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. (44) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (45) And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. It is the lack of faith that makes these Pharisees children of the Devil. The reason is that they do not believe the one sent from the Father. What can be learned from this portion of the text? Jesus is excerting His perfect faith by going against all the religious experts of the day. He tells them that because they do not have the faith to believe that He is who He says He is, that they prove that they are children of Satan. It is not only that they lack faith to believe but also they are incapable of having the faith because they are sold under sin (unbelief) to Satan.
(46) Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not
believe me? (47) He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye
are not of God. This is a remarkable
show of faith. He was talking to the
leaders of Judaism in
(48) Then answered the Jews,
and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
Now these Scribes and Pharisees used the ultimate accusation and slur. They called Him a Samaritan which was the one
of the most offensive names one could call a Jew and then they accused Him of
being demon possessed. This is the big
gun. When one is accused of demon
affiliation or possession it is a most difficult thing to tolerate. It is interesting to me that many of the
This is the most important step in the obedience of faith. We must rely on, cling too at all times and in all circumstances, and have settled confidence in the efficacy of the blood of Jesus. We must believe this in spite of what we see in our flesh. Only the loving Shepherd can give us this assurance. Only His voice will speak life into our otherwise dead bodies. Theology tells us that we must obey and Christology tells us that we must believe.
Here again we come back to father Abraham. Faith is the catalyst for the obedience of actions.
Heb 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
A person needs a cleansed conscience to enter in to the presence of God. Here is where a proper understanding of the gospel is paramount to correct doctrine. If we were to ask any Christian how they received a cleansed conscience at the time of their salvation, they would say that it was by belief/faith (leaning on, clinging too and having solid confidence) in the blood of Jesus. This is precisely the source of the first love. The individual who has been carrying around a load of guilt, and the sense of being separated and alienated from God, feels love joy and peace when they hear the gospel message and realize that Jesus died for their sin and that faith appropriates the gracious gift of reconciliation back to the Father. There is no better feeling in the entire world than to have your conscience cleansed by the gospel message.
Here’s where the problem of a different gospel comes into the mix. The Apostle Paul told the Colossian believers the following:
The only possible cleansing for a conscience is the blood of Jesus and therefore one must walk with the cleansed conscience at all times realizing that this is what brings our awareness of the presence of the Lord. As we stated earlier, it is in the presence of the Lord that we are transformed. So then, one must recognize the presence of the Lord at all times. It is when we do not recognize that we are always in the presence of the Lord, that we begin to do those things that grieve the Holy Spirit.
Most
people teach believers that they should be NIKE slogan Christians. Of course, the famous slogan of NIKE Inc is
“just do it.”
What this does in the final analysis is force the saint to transform
themselves. But, the motivation of the
heart is ultra important and the transformation must be from a heart of love
without any fear. The gospel is God’s
plan for casting out fear.
1Jo
So we see here the proper driver for transformation. It is stated in verse 16a, We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. In other words, using the true meaning of pistis (believed) we would write the sentence this way; We have come to know and have relied on, clung too and had settled confidence in the love that God had for us by sending His only begotten Son Jesus to provide us with a cleansed conscience.
Here
is the fallacy of current church dogma on the subject of being in the presence
of Jesus. Current teaching uses 1 John
1:6-10 to establish that one must be confessed up to be in fellowship with the
Lord.
1John 1:6-10 If we say that we have fellowship with
Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth; (7) but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is
in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His
Son cleanses us from all sin. (8) If we say that we have no sin, we are
deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
(9) If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make
Him a liar and His word is not in us.
First
of all what does it mean to walk in darkness? Look at
this verse in John’s gospel. This will
help us understand what is being said here in the above passage. John
So we see that one walks in the light for believing in Him and if one believes in Him according to the definition of pistis, then one has fellowship. But there’s more, according to verse 7, if we are walking in the light, believing in Him according to the proper definition of pistis, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
Now
we will turn our attention to verse eight; if
we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in
us. What can this verse mean,
especially in light of Chapter 5 verse 18, “we
know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who is born of God keeps him,
and the evil one does not touch him.” There it is within this letter; John
seems to contradict himself. What is
even more interesting is that there are essentially two camps within the
evangelical institutional church that emphasizes one or the other of these two
verses. One group declares that they are
but a sinner saved by grace and the other group declares that they no longer
sin. There is a sense in which both
groups are right and likewise, there is a sense in which both groups are wrong;
these two verses form a dichotomy.
These particular verses and First John in general, are very important in understanding the gospel. The reason for this is that, an understanding of these verses, determines if the gospel is in fact good news or not. The gospel must be good news by definition. To merely state that it is good news without it being completely good news would stop short of it being good news at all, and thus, it would become in reality, bad news. Nor is it good news because God has inspired men to write that it is good news. This alone does not meet the standard for being good news. No, for good news, to be in reality good news, must be deemed good news, by the hearer. Further, if the good news is deemed good news by the hearer, but, it is later proven to be bad news by circumstances, then it does not meet the definition standard of the term good news.
So
then, what is the good news? Well, it is
that the blood of Jesus cleanses the conscience form dead works and that we
stand righteous before God based upon our belief, faith and not on our merit or
our works. So let’s bring it back to the
issue of sin. First, we must admit that
in our fleshly state we are nothing but sinners. Therefore if we say we have no sin we
lie. But also, we must believe (lean on, cling too and
have settled confidence in the fact) that in Christ Jesus we do not sin. In fact, because we have as a personal
possession, the very righteousness of Jesus, we can never sin in the eyes of
the Father. The Father judged our sin on
Jesus once for all. That’s it; it is
finished, done, over, out of the way, completed, ended. This is always the position of the
believer. If this is not so; we cannot
keep a cleansed conscience.
So
then, you ask, what did John mean when he wrote “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our
sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”? Well, first let’s look at what it does not
mean. We have established earlier that it
is not the way to renew fellowship with the Father or Jesus. John
If
you read 1 John 1:9 over and over, you will find that it makes no mention of
asking forgiveness. It only says confess
your sins. It is the additional step of
asking forgiveness that is the source of the entire problem. Moreover, James tells us this about
confession.
Jam
A
person with habitual sin would think twice about committing it if they had to
confess it to one another. Here’s the
problem, we have such error in our doctrine that no one would ever confess
their faults or sins one to another.
Further, if we did confess to one another we are so carnal
that we would rip each other to shreds.
In fact, to be able to function the way that James suggests in James
Salvation Settled/Accomplished:
In order for the gospel to be really good news to the hearers there must be a provision in which one can believe (rely on, cling too and have settled confidence in) that settles the question of salvation once for all time. First, this settled confidence rests in the cleansed conscience and abiding in the presence of the Lord at all times. We have shown above that the only way that one can rest in the presence of the Lord is with a cleansed conscience. The answer to this is to walk in continual repentance.
This creates another problem. The theological lens of the church fathers has redefined and misappropriated so many terms that are essential to understanding and believing the gospel and repentance is one of them. Let’s look at the root word and the definitions of it. First of all, it is from the Greek word mentanoia which means to change ones views or mind. It is a turning toward God in Christ. The theological view put forth by the church fathers has the definition quite different in the English Dictionary these days. The English Dictionary reflects the popular understanding of repentance and therefore shows that the term is misunderstood as it relates to the gospel, good news message.
re·pent (r¹-pµnt“)
v. re·pent·ed, re·pent·ing, re·pents.
--intr. 1. To feel remorse, contrition,
or self-reproach for what one has done or failed to do; be contrite. 2. To feel such regret for past
conduct as to change one's mind regarding it: repented of intemperate
behavior. 3. To make
a change for the better as a result of remorse or contrition for one's sins.
--tr. 1. To feel regret or self-reproach for:
repent one's sins. 2.
To cause to feel remorse or regret. [Middle English repenten,
from Old French repentir : re-, re- + pentir,
to be sorry (from Vulgar Latin *paenitºre, from Latin paenit¶re).]
There is nowhere in the original text of the scripture where the concept of godly sorrow is given as the meaning or mentanoia, repentance. No, repentance is changing one’s mind to view a situation as God sees it and here is where the gospel truth of imputed righteousness is so important to the cleansed conscience. Continual repentance is to continue in changing our fleshly mind to look at ourselves as God sees us. God does not see the true believer as a sinner saved by grace. God sees us as the very righteousness of Christ and in that we can stand with clean conscience all the time. So then, when Paul says that we should examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith, 2Cor 13:5 he is not saying to examine our actions first and foremost but rather to examine if we are in a state of continual repentance; that is to say are we examining if we are seeing ourselves as God does or are we looking at ourselves as the world does. This self examination will reveal that you are trusting in the sufficiency of Christ as opposed to the sufficiency of self.
This self examination is the point of departure from our first love and gives new meaning to Paul’s words in Colossians 2:6 “therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.” This is the place that one can never get beyond the cross. This is the cross that we are to pick up and be crucified daily upon. This is the only source of knowing that your “calling and election” is sure.
You may well ask; how we can know that this interpretation is correct? The answer to the question is found in the very topic of this section of this writing. The Lord’s view of scripture interpretation was solely Christo-centric which means that the sole purpose of the scripture is to provide the progressive revelation and history of redemption found in Him. This view demands the absolute sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God demands that the good news, gospel rests squarely upon the promises of God. Therefore His promises, decrees of redemption, have priority in viewing the gospel message. The theological lens of scripture interpretation tends to give equal value to all the words of God recorded within the pages of scripture, but the Christological lens gives priority to the sovereign decrees of redemption. This is necessary to make redemption a sovereign act of God and not the act of man. God does not need the cooperation of man in redemption because the minute He does, it is no longer the sovereign work of God.
This is why Paul uses reductionism in his view of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. It is not that he has missed any part of the gospel because if he has then the strong declarations of the passage could not be true. No, rather, the case is that he is showing the strong declarative simplicity of the gospel, good news message.
1Co 15:1-4
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you,
which also you received, in which also you stand, (2) by
which also you are saved, if you hold
fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in
vain. (3) For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received, that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures,
(4) and that He was buried, and
that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
The only possible way that this could be
the gospel that they received, believed, stand in, and are saved by is if it
was in fact the gospel in its entirety.
Actually it is the phrase hold fast that we see the idea of continual
repentance. So there we have the good
news, gospel. Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures. He was
buried and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. The good news is the resurrection of Jesus
and one must continually repent, turn toward the sufficiency of Jesus and way
from the sufficiency of Christ. This is
precisely the same thing that Paul admonished the believers to do in Romans
12:1-2. Being transformed by the
renewing of the mind is being transformed by continual repentance. Continual repentance means to continually
view yourselves as God does. How does
God view the believer? The answer is the
very righteousness of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This understanding of the gospel brings one
into the presence of the Lord and it is in His presence that true
transformation takes place. This is not
some knowledge that is too wonderful to grasp.
It is a knowledge that the Spirit of God can bring to life when one
hears the true gospel message. This
gospel message allows one to have a cleansed conscience no matter what stage of
the sanctification process they are in.
This is the Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God. Christ Jesus the Lord of Glory and God of the
universe is our Sabbath. In the Sabbath
rest, one can be certain that their calling and election is sure.
What is the meaning of the phrase word of truth and how was this term understood by the apostles?
What is the significance of the Cross – and what is the significance of 70AD when considering the New and Old Covenants?
What is the importance of the Jew/Gentile distinction in understanding the gospel?
What was the importance of the Reformation and the five
sola’s? What should have been the sixth
and most important sola?
What limiting error is birthed in sola scriptura?
What was meant by the leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew
16:6 & 11; Mark
What is meant by the phrase “strong delusion” in 2 Thess
2:11?